Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-13
R0BB|NG BY WHOLESALE.
Employees of the Panhandle Gratifying
Their Luxurious Tastes.
Another Coal Mine Disaeeor = Monster
Demonstration AG0lnat the Coercion
Bill -Chinaman Shot ~ Wl9take-The
Gear ThresteDed, Etc.

/ @SSf5E%
Bm-Chinaman Shot u SEIseake-1h'
Gear ThreateDed, Etc.
WHOLESALE ARRESTS
OF Conductors and Brakbmen Who Have
Been Robbing the fanhandle.
PnrsBURG, April 11.3Detectives hav,
unearthed gigantic conspiracy for rob
bing the Panhandle Railroad Company
Nearly half million dollars worth o
freight Is said to have BEEN carried of by
the plunderers and their tools. Most o
the men involved in the plot are conduc
tors and brakemen in the employ of the
road. This morning a concerted raid be
gan upon the boarding places and homes
of the Panhandle Railroad employees, con-
ductors and brakemen by a squad com.
posed of one hundred policemen, detectives
and constables. At 1:16 o'clock two pris.
oners were escorted to the Jail from their
homes. At 9 O'Clock this morning forty.
four conductors and brakemen were
locked up in the county jail, one entire wing
of which has been specially set apart fol-
their accommoda ton. Early trains from
the west were held in the yard by q dis
play of red signals from the block at
Fourth avenue.
THE OFFICERS
boarded the train knowing the men that
were wanted, and promptly secured them
and marched them to Jail. No train ar
rived that did not lose one or more men
from it's crew. John H. Hampton, attor.
ney for the Pennsylvania company. was
seen this morning in the Office of detect
i've agency. where he was sitting amidst a
heterogeneous collection of plunder. He
said: "These robberies have been carried
on systematically for years. The com.
pany have long been aware that there was
q leakage somewhere, and as early as Sep.
tember. '86, they quietly commenced an
investiga tion.
DETECTIvE rs WE'RE PLACED ON TRAINS
where the goods could be watched and the
thieves caught. Wehad dalready'discovered
that the culprits were employees of the
crews OF freight t, aims on the Panhandle
railroad coming into Pittsburg. Of these
eighty CT rews no less than seventy-f five were
found to be crooked. The crew consists OF
a conductor, fagman and two brakemen.
In some cases all the men were involved,
in others only part. The statement that
the engineers and firemen were mixed up III
the robbery is wrong. Not single one is
involved. The goods were obtained by the
thieves in various ways. In many instan-
ces seals were broken, while in others
hatchets were used to cut hole in the end
of the car, through which the men crawled
and took what they wanted. Then they
reported the car in bad condition, claiming
that hole had been made by accident.
These operations were all the result of a
combination. Arrangements were careful
ly made. and eachIrascal was assigned to
his particular part of the work in mu.'h the
same way as a baAk robbery is conducted
by professional cracksmen. do not know
that the membereo OF the combination were
oath-bound or any thing of this kind, but
it ia certain a thorough understanding ex-
listed among them, and they acted in con-
cert to cover each others doings. What
alarmed us more than any thing else was
that they tole large quantities of whisky
and drank it in the cabooses. They needed
vessels to hold the liq or SO they stole
milk cans and kept it in them. Not daring
to keep the whisky openly in the cars they
tore up the flooring and hid IT underneath.
Men we're continually reported drunk On
duty, and the danger of disaster was fright
full to contemplate. All kind OF goods were
stolen, inc uding sewing machines, guns, re-
volvers. cutlery, silverware, cigars, cloth
ing, liquors. groceries, furniture and in fact
every imaginable article that can be car
ried on cars were quietly removed. Depre-
dations were committed al, along the road,
and losers reside at points as far west as
Denver.
FENCES WE'RE ESTABLISHED
in this city where the stolen property was
taken and sold, the money being evenly d.
vided amcng the crews. 1t is impossible to
give what the aggregate value of property
stolen is. but it is claimed that it will not
reach three hundred thousand. The ar
rests created the greatest excitement
among the railroad employees of this city.
The scenes about the Jail doors this morn
ing where the relatives OF the prisoners had
gathered to learn the cause of the arrests
were of the saddest description. At
O'Clock ten more arrests we're reported.
They we're captured at the pay car while
receiving their wages. This makes total
of fifty six now in Jail here. 1t is sup
posed as many more have been appre-
hended at other points along the line. Con-
sternation prevails among the proprietors
6ooNo
were secreted and sold.
The arrests include twelve conductors
and thirty-seven brakemen. Seven more
arrests have been made, but the names
have not yet been recorded. Nearly two
hundred warrants are still out. A number
OF houses in various parts of the city were
raided to-day and a large quantity OF
goods recovered. Every man arrested had
stolen goods somewhere. Among the pris-
oners arrested are several desperate char
acters who are wanted by the police for
other offenses. They were all armed, and
when not taken by surprise resisted arrest.
Numbers overpowered them, however, and
all were safely lodged in Jail.
A special dispatch from Denison says:
"Oficers have arrested James and w.
Coils with several thousand dollars worth
of velyets and high-priced dry goods in
from u. S. bonded cars en- route to points
west"
To Joseph Rice. special agent of the
Railroad and Detective
of this city is due all the credit
of running the thieves down. In an inter-
view with Rice. the following account of the
Inception of the robbers, their detection
and modus operandi OF their execution,
etc., Mr.. Rice said: 1.-TWO years ago we
decided to dispense with locks on cars and
our present system OF seals.
The seal is OF lead, it is about the size of
q i've cent piece and is about one-eighth of
an inch thick. The wire used in connection
with it is one-sixteenth inch iron wire.
There are curls in it to prevent it's being
pulled through the lead seal.
THE METHOD OF USING
it is asfollows: The wire is passed through
The seal then through hasp of the car
doors, then back through the seal again,
forming an unbroken circle. An instru-
ment is used in impressing the seals that is
in use, say in Pittsburg, stamps upon the
inverse side the letters ''Pg. tr." and upon
the diverse side "P. s. L." thus indicating
that the car is intact when it enters the P.
9. K. s. & L. r. r. bound westward. Two
wires are imbedded on the same stroke
as the letters are imprinted. This
it is understood will give
an idea of the inception of the robbery
and it's discovery by officials of the road.
The eastern bound trains we're not mo-
ested. The west bound trains have been
the sufferers. As near as we can estimate
it these robberies have been going on for
two years. At first there was no timiditv,
and they only occurred at long intervals,
then daily growing bolder and more gen
sral, until just lately every train was the
sufferer. We became